The invention relates to a motor vehicle door handle comprising: a base body; a handle flap which in its starting position partially covers an external handle recess in the base body; a handle flap connected to one lever end of each of two swivelling levers which are pivotally mounted in the interior of a vehicle door so that said lever ends, in response to a corresponding actuating force on said door handle, are shifted to the outside against the force of a spring; and an actuating part which is coupled to at least one of said swivelling levers for movement therewith when said switching levers are moved in response to the actuation force, which is located in the interior of the door, and which can be connected to a lock actuator.
A door handle of the above type is known, for example, from EP 0458 399 B1. It consists of a handle flap which in the normal position partially covers an external handle recess, into which project one protruding end of each of two swivelling levers, which are pivotally mounted in the inside of the door. The swivelling levers are connected to a base body which is attached in the inside of the door. In order to be able to paint or touch up the door in the handle area even later without removing the entire base body with the swivelling levers and handle flap for this purpose, the handle flap is detachably connected to the ends of the swivelling levers. For this reason, the corresponding sleeve-shaped parts which are located on the handle flap are placed over the lever ends, with leaf springs located on the lever ends pressing against the sleeve-shaped parts of the handle flap.
In this known door handle it is disadvantageous above all that when pulling on the handle flap with the corresponding strength required, for example, for a tight lock, the lever flap is relatively easily pulled off of the swivelling lever ends again so that the vehicle door cannot be opened in this case. Moreover, in this known handle the handle flap in its starting position is relatively far from the outside wall of the motor vehicle door, which is undesirable. Rather, for aesthetic reasons, as well as for reasons of good road behavior of the corresponding motor vehicle door, the handle flap in its starting position should cover the handle recess flush.
From DE 42 39 166 A1 a motor vehicle door handle of the generic type is known, in which, for purposes of high force transmission from the actuating hand to the door handle, it is suggested that a handle rod be placed on the bottom end of the handle flap. If, in order to open the vehicle door, it is necessary to reach behind the handle flap, it swivels forward into a position which favors gripping so that the actuating hand can almost entirely surround the handle rod.
In this known door handle it is disadvantageous mainly that the handle flap which is tilted toward the corresponding actuating hand when opening the door is frequently troublesome and causes an increase of the danger of injury in the area of the hand of the individual opening the door.
Finally, German patent DE 195 13 249.1 C1 discloses a motor vehicle door handle in which the door flap and the ends of the swivel lever are interconnected via clip-like catch connections as well as via pins, with the pins each fitting into a recess of the two side parts of the handle flap or the swivelling levers so that after loosening the clip-like catch projection, the handle flap can be swivelled around the respective pin against the direction of rotation of the swivel lever into an actuating position which favors gripping.
To move the handle into the position for initiating high force transmission (pull-off position) the handle flap is first swivelled out into the catch position. Then, continuing to pull releases the clip connection. The handle flap can then be swivelled downward so that at this point it can be encompassed by the actuating hand from the top and pulled with correspondingly high force.
In these door handles it is disadvantageous above all else that it is relatively difficult to fold the handle flap back into the pull-off position.